SERMON MANUSCRIPT
The famous Italian artist, Michelangelo, wrote a poem late in life reflecting on the end of life. Here’s the opening stanza: “The voyage of my life at last has reached, / across a stormy sea, in a fragile boat, / the common port all must pass through, to give / an accounting for every evil and pious deed.” With typical profundity and skill, Michelangelo captures the adventure of living, the delicacy of life, and the inescapability of the grave.
Unless the Lord returns, death is “the common port” at which each of us will one day dock our “fragile boats.” We are all, even this morning, en route, not one of us knowing for sure how far from the eternal marina we currently sit.
Now, that can be a depressing thought. But it can also be a clarifying thought, one that inspires lives of sobriety and liberty, gratitude and hope. The reality of mortality can often push aside triviality and frivolity and inspire sincerity and urgency.
A couple of weeks ago we began studying words spoken around the cross and, today, we’re going to eavesdrop on a conversation between two dying men—the criminal and the Christ, the sinner and the Saviour. There’s no fluff here, no small-talk, and no beating around the bush. Instead, in the valley of the shadow of death, we find a last-minute request—desperate and clear—and a life-giving response—sure and exact. And by paying attention to these gracious words of Jesus, you and I can more hopefully and joyfully navigate the “stormy seas” of life.
We’re going to focus on verse 43 but follow along as I begin reading at verse 39. [23:39–43]
A LAST-MINUTE REQUEST
To call this man’s plea a last-minute request is not much of an exaggeration. Like the Lord Jesus, he and his partner-in-crime had been “led away to be put to death” (23:32) and, like the Lord Jesus, had be nailed to a cross to die horribly, painfully, and publicly (23:33). There was no appeal left to make, no chance of mercy left to receive, no escape to be planned, and no hope to be held. The end was here. Death had arrived.
But, for one criminal, this brought clarity. He had seen the torture Jesus had endured and then heard Jesus ask God to forgive his torturers. He had listened to the mocking and sneering, an irreverence parroted by the other dying criminal.
All of a sudden, it’s like scales fell from his eyes. This criminal yells across Jesus to the other man, warning him: “What are you doing? Don’t you see what I’m seeing? We’re ‘under the same sentence of condemnation’ (23:40) and ‘we indeed are suffering justly … receiving what we deserve for our deeds’ (23:41). We’re getting what we deserved and we’re about to meet God and get what we deserve there too. It’s so clear to me now!
“And you know what else is clear to me? Jesus doesn’t belong here. This man has done nothing wrong” (23:41). It’s so obvious now: he’s innocent. He is ‘the Christ of God, his Chosen One’ (23:35). He is ‘the King of the Jews’ (23:37). He is the Son of David promised by God to establish a perfect kingdom without end. I see it now: this is the end for us, but it can’t be for him.”
And such clarity prompts humility in his last-minute request: “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom!” (23:42). What a declaration of belief! “Jesus, I know now who you are and what you can do. I know you’re not staying on that cross and that your kingdom is inevitable. And, when it comes, I’m not asking that you exalt me, reward me, or adopt me (I’m not worthy of that)—but just remember me, I beg you.”
Reflecting on this scene, one author writes this: “What a prayer! What faith! in such circumstances! from such a man! Does he see in that lowly head beneath the crown of thorns, a head which shall wear one day a crown of glory? Does he see in the man whom the world has placed between two malefactors, the Lord and King of heaven? Does he believe that this dying one shall live again and come in glory to reign, and that his cross is the pathway to the crown? Does he, a rebel once against high heaven, own himself a subject now of Jesus, the mediator king? All this he does! Oh! what heaven-imparted faith! what illumination from above amid the darkness of the scene of Calvary, and the darkness of a sinner’s heart like his!” (Ireland, Light From Calvary, 21).
I hope that we all see clearly now what it took crucifixion to make plain to this man. We’re all guilty, dying, and headed for judgement. It’s our “common port.” We are nailed to a cross of our own deserved condemnation, unable to do anything but desperately and humbly gasp for mercy to Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God who “died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God” (1 Pet. 3:18).
This man didn’t have time left to turn his life around, to make amends for his sins, to tell others about Jesus, to learn the Scriptures, to become a member of a good Bible-preaching synagogue, or even be baptized. Literally, all he could do, with clarity and humility, was call out to Jesus for help.
A LIFE-GIVING RESPONSE
This criminal makes a last-minute request. And, gracious as he always is, Jesus doesn’t leave him without an answer but provides a life-giving response: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise” (23:43). Are there any sweeter words found in all of Scripture?
Notice, first, the immediacy in the response: “Today you shall be with me in Paradise.” The request was humble: “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom, when that happens, when you reign, when you sit on your throne.” And Jesus says, “That when is today.”
Luke uses this word often to communicate immediacy. The angel said to the shepherds, “for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Saviour” (2:11). “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house” (19:5). “Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied [me] three times” (22:34).
So, on the cross, Jesus says, “Today you’re going to be with me in paradise. Not next week, not after more spiritual cleansing or a season of unconsciousness. No, today. This very day.”
As Paul writes to the believers in Corinth, [2 Cor. 5:6–8]. And again to the believers in Philippi, [Phil. 1:23–24]. As it was for that agonizing but forgiven criminal, so it is for us: when we close our eyes for the final time in this life we open them to gaze upon our Saviour. That day. There’s wonderful immediacy.
Add to that the certainty of Jesus’s response. “Truly I say to you.” This is the word, “amen.” [Ending prayers] Everything Jesus says is absolute truth and worthy of trust, but for the sake of doubting and distracted people, he sometimes uses this word to introduce a matter of particular importance. [4:24; 18:17]
“Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise.” To Mary, an angel said: “Behold, you [shall] conceive and bear a son” (1:31). To the disciples: “From now on you [shall] be catching men” (5:10). These are divine declarations of coming certainty, and the promise made to this dying man is no exception.
When he heard these words from Jesus, do you think this man doubted his salvation? Do you think, after coming to understand with clarity and humility, Jesus’s true identity and full power, he asked himself, “I wonder where I’m going to be later on today?” No! He was filled with certainty because the Son of God said, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise.”
And Jesus has said the same thing to you and me. [John 5:24; 10:27–28] Not only is there forgiveness available, brothers and sisters—and there is—but there’s certainty of it.
Finally, notice the intimacy being promised by Jesus. He could have said, “Today you shall be in Paradise, an eternally satisfying, other-worldly, and divinely provided bliss” and it would have been great news to this dying sinner. But notice the two precious words Jesus adds: “Todayyou shall be with me in Paradise.”
The last-minute request: “Remember me, Jesus!” The life-giving response: “I’ll do better than that: today you’re going to be with me, where I am, for as long as I am there, which is forever.”
Not long after this conversation ended, the sun stopped shining and “the veil of the temple was torn in two” (23:45). The barrier that necessarily separated unholy people from a holy God was ripped in half by the hand of God, signifying the access-granting reality of Jesus’s death. And not long after that, this redeemed thief walked arm-in-arm with the Son of God into the presence of the Father. What undeserved intimacy!
This is what Jesus was describing to his disciples just hours before in a scene dramatically different than Calvary: [John 14:1–3].
When our loved ones died in Christ, it was Christ himself they immediately and certainly saw; Christ in all his beauty and majesty, power and love. Like Stephen who, as he was dying saw Christ and called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).
And when you and I finally dock our boats on the other side of the river of death, it isn’t just a slightly better version of life that awaits, it is he who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Our Saviour, our Lord, our Shepherd, our God and King. We will be with him. In mansions of glory and endless delight / I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright / I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow / If ever I loved Thee my Jesus ’tis now.
What precious words around the cross. What a sobering conversation between two dying men: a last-minute request marked by God-given clarity and humility—“Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom”—and a life-giving response marked by immediacy, certainty, and intimacy—“Truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in Paradise.”
Our fragile boats all hit the dock eventually. These earthly tents will give way to the elements. But the God of this world wants us to know where we’re going after that. He doesn’t want us to live lives with uncertainty around our destiny. Paradise in his presence is available, immediately and certainly.
I want to close with three brief encouragement to us to consider with Luke 23:43 in mind. First, it’s never too late. If there’s anything the thief on the cross shows us it’s that, until death comes, it’s never too late. We’re never too old, never too sinful, never too incapable of humbly admitting what God has made clear: we deserve death, Jesus didn’t but died anyway so that we can have life after death. [Gospel]
Second, don’t wait until the end. Just because it’s never too late doesn’t mean we should wait until it is. The joys of following Christ are so sweet. The joys of turning from sin, of submitting to his lordship, or serving his people are innumerable. Don’t wait until the end of life (as though you even know when that is!) to belong to him and don’t wait until the end of life to give your life to him.
Finally, enjoy what’s been promised. For those who do belong to the Lord already, we know what comes next: immediately, certainly, and intimately. May that free us from anxiety and fear, paralysis and laziness. May we live with joy because of our gracious, loving, and powerful Saviour and coming King, he who we serve now and long to see.
Josiah has served the Oakridge Bible Chapel family as one of its elders and one of its pastoral staff members since September 2018, before which he ministered as an associate pastor to a local congregation in the Canadian prairies. Josiah's desire is to be used by God to help equip the church for ministry, both while gathered (edification) and while scattered (evangelization). He is married to Patricia, and together they have five children—Jonah, Henry, Nathaniel, Josephine, and Benjamin.
